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What is wrong with local journalists ?

There was an article about Native American mascots in our
local paper and the journalist just out of plain ignorance, could not see
the point of doing away with using Native American mascots. Blame this
attitude on our illustrious school system in this country !

Disgusted,

Phil in Ohio

Stereotypes are a way that promotes dissension
between the races...we have all heard the stereotype that Mexican's are
lazy (but I only know hard working ones) - we have all heard that the
Jewish are greedy and make money (again I only know hard working ones).
I have never understood why one needs to demean another race. Hmm what
are the whites known for - greed, racism, the
need to conquer all nations, funny I know whites that aren't like this at
all. Does this need to call others names make one feel superior. The
bill board is in bad taste and we are such a politically oriented country
that bad taste should always be condemned - lets face it would you like
to see your family depicted up on a bill board as tasteless as this, I
don't care if his wife is NA, evidently she isn't proud of it. the
billboard should come down just as our need to stereotype and label should
be done away with. When it comes down to brass tacks we are only 6
people away from our nearest relative no matter the race, color or
religious preference, and it takes a lot for me to say that living here
in Utah. Grow up world and flush this type of nonsense down the toilet
where it belongs

But both women, each a mother of two, separately came to the conclusion
that something is wrong with a mural outside of West Main Liquors in the
Sooner State town of Hugo, a small burg of several thousand people
situated
on the Texas/Oklahoma border.

The mural depicts a white settler selling liquor from a wagon to an
Indian
man wearing traditional clothing. A Native woman accompanied by several
children appears to be waiting in the background for the sale to be
completed.

The soft-spoken Durrence recalls the first time she drove by the store.

“I was wondering if it was appropriate,” she told the Native American
Times. “I am not the type of person that likes to make controversy. But
I
would see it everyday and it just wasn’t right.”

Harris feels the same way. A nurse at a Choctaw clinic, Harris also
found
the mural in poor taste, to say the least.

“I think it is demeaning to Indian women,” Harris said. “It shows an
Indian
woman waiting with her kids for her husband to buy liquor. Indians
already
have this stigma and all he is doing is portraying a stereotype.”

“He” is Bob Almond, the owner of West Main Liquors. Reached by the
Native
American Times for comment, Almond hung up the phone after using
profanity
to curse those who might have a problem with the mural.

Harris has better luck.

“I talked to him. He told me that his wife is Indian and that [the
mural]
depicts part of our culture,” she said. “I don’t think he realizes what
he
is portraying.”

Durrence says she is frustrated because the Choctaws, based in the
nearby
town of Durant, have made strides to reduce the abuse of drugs and
alcohol
among tribal members.

“It’s a stereotype,” Durrence said. “It is what we have been trying to
get
away from. People drive up and down that road coming from Texas everyday
and that is what they see when they come to Oklahoma.”